/droop-meaning

/droop-meaning-etymology

-) Verb.

-) Pronunciation: druːp.

-) Etymology: from Middle English drupen.

-) Preterite tense: drooped (druːpt). Preterite participle: drooped.

-) Present participle: drooping.

-) Documented since 1300.

-) Intransitively: -) 1. (Of a plant, animal, etc.) to have or undergo a bent posture, or inclination or fall, from physical inability or fatigue, want of nourishment, or the like.

-) Synonym for “droop”: (of a plant) to flag.

-) Translation: tomber, in French; caer, in Spanish; cadere, in Italian.

Like a delicate flower, that has drooped on, being deprived of air and light and which suddenly revives when revisited by the zephyr and the sunbeam, she appeared to have recovered in that morning walk some portion of her former animation.

Bentley's Miscellany… 1842

He dropped the cup and spurred his horse away; but, soon fainting with loss of blood, drooped from the saddle.

Dickens… A Child's History… 1851

-) 2. -) a. (Of a part of a body) to become suspended from another while being attracted downward by gravity; to be or become inclined from its vertical position, without disunion. -) b. Particularly: (of eyes) to be inclined downward, with the eyelids lowered; (of head, gaze, etc.) to be or become inclined from its vertical position.

-) Synonyms for “droop”: hang, dangle.

She suffered her head to droop back again upon the grass.

G. Rainsford… The False Heir… 1843

Miss Walker's head suddenly drooped on Mr. Collins's shoulder.

The Irish Metropolitan Magazine, vol. III… 1858

Then she looked, for the first time that night, so hardly into his stern and sallow countenance, as to make his gaze droop before her own.

E. Meteyard… Mainstone’s Housekeeper, vol. II… 1860

Heavy eyelids drooped over his eyes.

Oscar Wilde… The Fisherman… 1891

By that time the tree is a month old, you may perceive a small body almost as big as one's arm, and then there are eight or ten leaves, some of them four or five foot high […]. As the young leaves spring up in the inside, so the old leaves spread off, and their tops droop downward, being of a greater length and breadth by how much they are nearer the root, and at last decay and rot off…

W. Dampier… Voyage Round the World… 1937

-) With the preposition “from” + noun:

The leaves drooped from the stem without losing colour.

J. Lindley… An Introduction to Botany… 1835

… the profusion of fair tresses that drooped from the head of Miss Dorcas, mingled in charming contrast with Ada's luxuriant, dark hair.

J. Maitland… The watchman… 1855

-) 3. (Now only of the sun, day, etc.) to descend into a space; to decline, go down

 Already the sun was drooping far down the west, and sending its golden glow sideways through the trees.

Star Papers… 1855

-) 4. To become gradually less in vital strength and energy; to languish.

But nothing can reconcile the children of the Indians, to the customs, manners, and methods of living among the Europeans: However caressed and indulge ed, they droop and languish, until they return to the freedom and wildness of the forest.

S. Williams… History of Vermont… 1809

The horse drooped from fatigue.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine… 1847

-) 5. To become gradually less in courage; to become despondent.

-) Synonym: to quail.

The shout, so suddenly and generally raised, was heard beyond the ring of sentinels who guarded the pavilion of Council, and spread among the soldiers of the host, who, inactive and dispirited by disease and climate, had begun, like their leaders, to droop in resolution.

W. Scott… The Talisman… 1825

-) Transitively: to let (face, the eyes, etc.) droop; to cause to decline or hang; to bend; turn towards the ground.

…. I drooped my head on the shoulder of my dear aunt.

G. Mason… The widow's choice… 1823

Aza paused, and sighed as she drooped her head upon her bosom; yet the pause was but that of a minute.

A. Bray… The Talba… 1830

The secretary drooped his head with an expression of perfect acquiescence in anything that had been said or might be.

Dickens… Barnaby… 1841

"Stand here and look me in the face: if you lie, I can tell it—you can't and shan't deceive me." He lifted her, by a sweep of his strong arm, on to the top of the newly-sodded grave. Thus, standing somewhat on a level, he was face to face with her; and that she might not droop hers, he grasped the shawl beneath her chin.

E. Meteyard… Mainstone’s Housekeeper… 1869

Fleur drooped her eyelids; turned a little pale, and bit her lips.

Galsworthy… The Forsyte Saga… 1922

-) English words derived from “droop”: drooper, drooping, droopingly, droopingness.

 

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